Friday, January 31, 2014

I guess no…nothim. Meaning Joaquin Phoenix, who was rumored for the part.I say that because Zack Snyder has tapped Jesse Eisenberg (an Oscar nominee for The Social Network, if you recall) to play Lex Luthor in the forthcoming Batman vs. Superman.On a related note, given that Bruce Wayne will be an integral part of this sequel (in the form of Ben Affleck), Jeremy Irons has been cast in the part of his trusted butler Alfred.Alright, alright, alright….Photo: Wallpoper.com.

Ever wonder how Juliet really felt about that whole thing with Romeo?Well wonder no mo’.The Invisible Woman’s Felicity Jones has signed on to star in Rosaline, a comedic, revisionist retelling of Romeo & Juliet as told from the titular character’s point of view.The period-with-modern-language project comes from (500) Days of Summer and The Fault In Out Stars scribes Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter.Jones will next be seen big time in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 later this year.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Dr. Who fans must be flocking to the theater theatre off-West End in London.That’s because Matt Smith is playing Patrick Bateman.Yes, American Psycho is now American Psycho: The Musical, as written by Spring Awakening’s Duncan Sheik.Keep your fingers crossed the show makes it stateside to Broadway!Photo: TheDailyBeast.com.

How sweet!And real.I so cannot wait to see The Fault In Our Stars starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort now.This is, of course, the eagerly anticipated adaptation of the John Green novel about a girl and a boy that meet in a cancer support group and fall in love.

It’s been a long while since I read up on anything Daniel Craig (probably because the man was busy on Broadway), so this is most welcome.The actor c.a.k.a. James Bond has attached himself to The Whole Truth, a dramatic thriller about which nothing else is know.So…short item. But an item nevertheless.

When Halle Berry makes her return to TV this summer, she will have some handsome, familiar company.Goran Visnjic (TV’s ER) has been cast as the Oscar winner’s husband in Extant, the story of an astronaut who comes back to Earth from a year-long solo mission in space and struggles to reconnect with her family…and whose experiences lead to events that end up changing the course of human history.Betcha her hubby won’t be like, the totally patient-type.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

I sooo wish I didn’t have an dinner thing tonight.’Cause I so wanna see Madonna join Miley Cyrus for an unplugged mash-up of the latter’s “We Can’t Stop” and the Queen of Pop’s “Don’t Tell Me.”It is gonna be awesome! Thanks for making this happen, MTV – sometimes you still manage to surprise me us.Photo: UsMagazine.com.Update: #Madley happened!The Queen has officially anointed a new pop princess (who had pretty much anointed herself anyway).And it was just a little awkward – I chuck that to the lack of rehearsal time, which we M super-fans know she cherishes) and to Cyrus’…eagerness. And totally awesome. Not the salacious kinda thing people probably had hoped it would be. Just a pop legend, helping a pop newbie build her own.Loves it.Watch:

And here I was hoping they would call upon Hayden Panettiere.What…she’s spunky.Anyway, Emma Roberts has landed the female lead in For the Dogs, the Sam Worthington-starring adaptation of the Kevin Wignall novel centering on a loner gun for hire who helps a bright college girl exact revenge on those who 86d her family without mercy or consequence.Roberts replaces Hailee Steinfeld in the Phillip Noyce- Jonathan Mostow-directed project.Photo: BeautyEditor.ca.

Nic Pizzolatto is on fiya thanks to his hit HBO drama True Detective.So it only makes sense that for his next project the powers that be have paired the guy’s material with Rust and Bone star Matthias Schoenaerts, another hot up-and-comer.The Belgian star is going to star in an adaptation of Pizzolatto’s Galveston novel, the story of a man who finds out that his loan-sharking, bar-owning boss wants him dead – on the same day that he is diagnosed with a terminal illness.Things devolve in what are described as Cormac McCarthy-esque ways from that point forward.Yes! I am sooo looking forward to seeing Schoenaerts explode in the most Fassbenderian way. And he has quite a docket of films ready for release to assist him in just that endeavor.

Pitch Perfect was a good movie.It was the sleeper hit of fall 2012 – one that has proven to have aca-mazin’ legs.It was such a good, fun movie that it should not have been subjected to talk of a sequel (’cause, y’ know…why not leave well enough alone!), but one such conversation inevitably was had and one such follow-up is inevitably happening.Which is aca-K, especially because one of the original movie’s producers and co-stars, actress Elizabeth Banks, will be helming Pitch Perfect 2.With Banks – who is credited with having an “energy and experience” that was instrumental to bringing the first movie to the big screen – calling the shots, I am confident the forthcoming sequel will worth our while.Photo: CelebrityRedCarpet.co.uk.

Zoey Deutch is flirting with It Girl status som’in’ fierce.The former co-star of TV’sRinger star is starring in next month’s kinda-trashy-looking Vampire Academy (which will probably be a modest hit – as most YA adaptations tend to be, in some form or another).And she’s already lining ’em up like she means business.Deutch is set to star opposite All-American Rejects’ Tyson Ritter (TV’s Parenthood), H-O-T up-and-comer Wyatt Russell, and William Hurt in the Greg Allman-directed biopic Midnight Rider, as a rock groupie who hails from a small town and winds up an Allman love interest.No bad, huh.Photo: GotCeleb.com.

No Houdini, no problem: Hugh Jackman will be back on Broadway next season anyway.The Awesome Aussie has signed on to star in Jez Butterworth’s The River.No word on when the mystery play will open, but I think we can all agree it probably will be another hit for Jackman.’Cause folks love the actor, the man loves the Great White Way…and, thus, by logic, people love Broadway, especially when he’s there.

Btw, Daniel Radcliffe is also headed back to the New York stage, this spring. He will be reprising his starring role from The Cripple of Inishmaan, which played in London last summer.Photo: GIFHunterress.tumblr.com.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Picture this: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, all roped up.Well, kinda.I say picture this because director Robert Zemeckis is.That is, he is hoping that Gordon-Levitt will agree to star in To Reach the Clouds, a dramatization of tightrope walker Philippe Petit, the subject of the Academy Award-winning documentary Man on Wire.Zemeckis is hoping to shoot the thing in 3-D, btw. Which means…tight, coming-at-ya shots of the actor.And who wouldn’t like that!

So the Grammys were handed out last night….Lorde had a great evening, as did Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.And, as promised, Beyoncé and Jay Z performed together, and Madonna came out to join Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (and Mary Lambert) to sing a special “Same Love” with a dash of “Open Your Heart.”It was all part of a special mass wedding event thing at the end of show, a quick ceremony presided by Queen Latifah (!) that made for one of the most memorably pop moments of the night.Heck, it was one of the memorably pop moments of any recent Grammy ceremonies. Of course M would be there.Photo: UsMagazine.com.Update: Oh, let’s just go ahead and watch the whole thing again (and get jelly that 33 couples got to have “Open Your Heart” as their wedding kiss moment):

Just to wet whet your appetite for the much-anticipated Fifty Shades of Grey movie that’s opening Valentine’s Day weekend, 2015, here’s the first official one-sheet for the movie.It’s not like, super-titillating stuff, but it’s kinda sexy nonetheless.The poster shows the back of star Jamie Dornan and features the tagline “Mr. Grey Will See You Now.”Oh I bet he will.Photo: UsMagazine.com.

The View, it seems, is like the mob.Rosie O’Donnell may have pledged never to set foot on the set of the show following her bombastic exit back in 2007 – but that show has some pull, and girlfriend willrevisit her ol’ stomping ground nevertheless, on Feb. 7.Just for the day…as a guest.And I so will be watching.O’Donnell reportedly said yes to going back on the show to kiss Barbara Walters’ ring, given that it is her last season there and all.Photo: Google.com.

The Directors Guild of America handed out their awards for the best of 2013, and much like their Producers counterparts, the helmers thought Gravity.Except this group did not split the vote with another film.Indeed, Alfonso Cuarón (pictured here with his stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney), was the only filmmaker named Best Director of the year that was.Place your Oscar bets now, people!Photo: EW.com.

Carol just got its other woman.American Horror Story player Sarah Paulson – who can currently be seen being all kinds of merciless in 12 Years a Slave – is set to play the ex and current confidante of Cate Blanchett in the long-gestating adaptation of The Price of Salt.The project, to be directed by Todd Haynes, is based on a Patricia Highsmith novel centering on the blossoming relationship between two period women: an unhappy wife and a department store shopgirl dreaming of a more fulfilling life.Rooney Mara is set to play the younger lady in this triangle-ish-sounding situation.Photo: HollywoodReporter.com.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Well, it just must be said: Julianna Margulies has the life we all want.Let’s see, she has:An award-winning career and a starring role on one of TV’s best-written shows (The Good Wife)?Check.A stunning New York City apartment?Yeah…check that, too.And hella-H-O-T husband in Keith Lieberthal?F---in’ check.Right? But let us not give into bitterness and just say bitch is #aspirational.Photo: ArchitecturalDigest.com.

Kylie Minogue loves her fans.So she’s teasing her upcoming new album the bestest way: with some lip action.Kiss Me Once is a-comin’, and here’s your first listen at what she’s cooked up for it. It’s the first single, “Into the Blue.”Sweet!Photo: Towleroad.com.

Friday, January 24, 2014

OMG, yes!Finally, Sharon Stone may be up to something that will keep her busy bring her into our lives on a weekly basis.The Academy Award-nominated actress has been tapped to headline a new TNT action-drama pilot titled Agent X.S2 will play the American VP, a political newbie tasked with the duty of protecting the Constitution in times of crises with the aid of her chief steward and the titular secret operative.Oooh.Pretty sure this is the first time Stone has bitten on a TV offer (and, from what I understand, everyone under the sun has tried to lure her to the tube before).Photo: Style.com.

Thomas Kretschmann – who, for whatever reason, hasn’t happened yet – may be getting his moment at last.In a couple of years.The German actor reportedly will share bad-guy duties with James Spader in Joss Whedon’s forthcomingThe Avengers: Age of Ultron, asBaron Wolfgang von Strucker, a Nazi officer working with the terrorist organization Hydra.Approved! Especially because methinks he will be going mano a mano with Chris Evans’ Captain America.And that is quite a visual.Photo: FuckYeahThomasKretschmann.tumblr.com.

Penélope Cruz is fixin’ to play producer.The Oscar winner is set to co-produce and star in the Spanish-language Ma ma, an intimate drama with a few good moments of levity here and there.Julio Medem, the L.A.-based Spanish director of Sex and Lucia, is set to helm the project.

Production will get underway in Spain this spring.Photo: TheHairStyler.com.

Update 1: Whoopsies.More like Hookd: Garrett Hedlund has landed the part of Hook in the movie.Peter Pan has yet to be cast.Update 2:Hugh Jackman will be playing Blackbeard in the movie. It is now officially confirmed.